The present invention relates to transporting apparatuses provided with a transport member that is furnished with a air-supplying-type support means for supplying purified air toward a lower surface of a transported object to contactlessly support the transported object in a horizontal orientation or a substantially horizontal orientation, and a drive force application means that comes into contact with the lower surface of the transported object that is supported by the air-supplying-type support means and applies a drive force in the transporting direction to the transported object.
In such transporting apparatuses, the air-supplying-type support means contactlessly supports the transported object and the drive force application means applies a drive force in the transporting direction to the transported object in a contacting manner. For example, in a case where a glass substrate for a liquid crystal is transported as the transported object, the air-supplying-type support means contactlessly supports the sections of the glass substrate that are to be processed into products and the drive force application means applies a force in a contacting manner to the sections of the glass substrate that are cut away during product processing (for example, see JP 2002-321820A).
Such conventional transporting apparatuses are configured such that the drive force application means applies a drive force in the transporting direction to the transported object in a contacting manner, and thus even if an attempt is made to perform a scooping task of scooping the transported object from the transporting portion or a lowering task of lowering the transported object onto the transporting portion from a horizontal direction that intersects the transporting direction, using a transfer device provided with a loading portion that can receive and support the transported object, the drive force application means interferes with the loading portion moving in the horizontal direction and thus the loading portion cannot be inserted into the space below the transported object that is supported by the air-supplying-type support means. Therefore it was not possible to perform the scooping task or the lowering task from a horizontal direction that intersects the transporting direction, which was inconvenient.